Automotive vehicles may include Comfort Access (CA) systems that allow a user to access and start a vehicle just by holding a key, key fob or card. In operation, such systems may perform and/or enable vehicle access and vehicle start functions based on a determined location of the key in or around the vehicle.
To facilitate determining key location, the key, key fob or card may be equipped with one or more antennas and the CA system may employ multiple antennas positioned at multiple locations in the vehicle. The CA system may also include an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) having a decision based algorithm that determines key location based on the transmission of low frequency (LF) signals (e.g., 125 kHz) between the key antenna and the vehicle based antennas.
Calibration of such decision based algorithms typically takes two days on average. Such decision based algorithms and their calibration for use in determining key location are also highly dependent on the particular vehicle, vehicle type, vehicle materials and the number of vehicle antennas and their positions on the vehicle.
As a result, there exists a need for a method and system for determining a vehicle key location having higher flexibility and higher reliability by using one or more neural networks. Such a method and system would provide a single algorithm that could be used for all vehicles, regardless of vehicle type, materials, or the number or locations of vehicle antennas, thereby increasing flexibility. Such a method and system would also greatly reduce calibration time in the field, thereby increasing reliability by using the same algorithm and calibration procedure for all vehicles and thus reducing the risk of manual errors during calibration.